The GM Korea branch of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union said it submitted an appeal to the Incheon District Court. The Incheon court on Feb. 13 dismissed the union’s injunction request seeking to prohibit the closure of the direct-run service operations.
The court said matters related to organizational restructuring generally fall within management rights and are afforded broad discretion. It also found that ending service center operations was conditioned on labor-management “consultation,” not “agreement.”
The union argued that management itself formed bodies such as a task force to revitalize direct-run service centers and a special committee on job security on the premise that closures would require agreement between labor and management or, at minimum, substantial discussions. It said the court misread the collective bargaining agreement by focusing on wording while overlooking how the agreement was reached.
The union also said a full shutdown would raise concerns about vehicle safety, consumer rights and damage to brand trust, and that the business need was unclear given GM Korea’s solid financial structure. It said the court broadly accepted management discretion while effectively avoiding a judgment on the legality of what it called an expected large-scale forced reassignment of service workers.
A union official said that after the first meeting of a special labor-management consultative body last month to seek withdrawal of the closure plan, the union delivered a proposal following internal discussions. The official said management has repeated for more than a month that it is still reviewing the proposal, calling it closer to delaying a decision than holding talks to resolve the issue.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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